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SITA Smart Path™ – Biometrics at every step of the journey

Location:Cologne, Germany

15 March 2016

Allowing passengers to use a single biometric token from entry to exit

Today at Passenger Terminal EXPO, the world’s largest airport exhibition, global IT provider SITA revealed Smart Path™. This new technology allows passengers to move through the airport and board the aircraft simply by presenting themselves for a biometric check. Once verified there is no need for the passenger to present a boarding pass, a passport or travel documents again.

With SITA Smart Path, the passenger’s biometric details are captured through a facial scan at the first touch point in the journey. The record is checked against the passenger’s travel documents, typically the passport, and a secure single token is created. Then, at each step of the journey – from check-in, to aircraft boarding or border control – passengers gain access simply with a facial scan and without having to show their passport or boarding pass.

SITA Smart Path puts a fast, secure and seamless walkthrough experience within reach of passengers today. Unlike other offerings, SITA’s can be easily integrated into existing airport infrastructure and airline systems. This includes standard common-use, self-service equipment already in use across the industry such as check-in kiosks, bag drop units, gates for secure access, boarding and automated border control, making rapid deployment easy and cost-effective. Smart Path also integrates with government systems and databases, allowing integrated immigration and border checks.

Matthys Serfontein, Vice President, Airport Solutions, said: “SITA has a strong record of introducing new self-service solutions across the entire passenger journey for both airlines and airports. But we also provide sophisticated border management systems to Governments. Everyday hundreds of airlines use SITA technology to connect with Government identity management and risk assessment systems in countries around the world.

“We have built on this unique expertise to create SITA Smart Path - a single, secure, self-service process using existing common-use infrastructure which works seamlessly with multiple airline and Government systems. Smart Path simplifies secure, passenger processing for everyone – airlines, airports and border authorities.”

SITA is currently working with a number of major airlines and airports to integrate biometrics into the passenger journey and expects that by 2020 passengers using biometrics will be the norm at airports across the world.

Serfontein, added: “The key to single token travel is gathering and verifying data as early in the process as possible in order to establish a robust token. This includes both biometric and biographic information. And then if necessary to update it with more detailed information from airline, airport or government systems at various steps in the journey. That is exactly how we have designed SITA Smart Path.”

SITA, provides self-service solutions at every step of the passenger journey from check-in to boarding. Its passenger processing applications are used by more than 165 airlines globally and its common-use systems board more than 100 million passengers per year. Today it provides border management solutions to more than 30 Governments and has in excess of 1,000 self-boarding lanes across the globe which can be used to introduce this new biometric system.